The Jade Mask (1945)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Phil Rosen

Writers:

Earl Derr Biggers (characters)
George Callahan (writer)

Release Date:

26 January 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

A MYSTERY MANSION...Where death lurks in every dark corner and a mad genius runs loose!

Plot:

Charlie Chan looks into the apparent murder of a scientist in a spooky mansion.

Plot Keywords:

Charlie Chan | Scientist | Butler | Black Stereotype | Whodunit

Cast

Sidney Toler	...	Charlie Chan
Mantan Moreland	...	Birmingham Brown
Edwin Luke	...	Eddie Chan
Hardie Albright	...	Walter Meeker
Frank Reicher	...	Harper
Janet Warren	...	Jean Kent
Cyril Delevanti	...	Roth
Al Bridge	...	Sheriff Mack (as Alan Bridge)
Ralph Lewis	...	Officer Jim Kimball
Dorothy Granger	...	Stella Graham
Edith Evanson	...	Louise Harper
Joe Whitehead	...	Dr. Samuel R. Peabody
Henry Hall	...	Inspector Godfrey
Jack Ingram	...	Lloyd Archer
Danny Desmond	...	Bellboy

Runtime:

66 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Company:

Monogram Pictures

Quotes:

Roth: If anyone know where the formula was kept, I would, but I know nothing about it at all.
Charlie Chan: [to Sheriff Mack] To get information from him is like putting empty bucket into empty well.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Slanted Screen (2006)

A Strange Chan Flick; Not Bad Until The Ending

This is one of the strangest Charlie Chan films I've even seen, probably because many of the suspects were so weird. That, and the building in which most of the action takes place - with all its secret and motorized panels - is odd to see.

The story: an unpopular family member-scientist, "Dr. Harper," (Frank Reicher) has developed a chemical that makes wood as strong as steel. Our government could use this, especially in time of war, so they are obviously concerned when the scientist is found murdered. They call on Charlie Chan to help solve the case and get the formula. Charlie winds up getting help from his Number Four Son "Eddie," someone I never saw in any other Chan films. He was the bespectacled "intellectual" son in the family and another likable Chan.

Anyway, someone is after the formula - for the money it could bring them - and is culprit is probably from the big family where the doctor was working. All of these people are portrayed as guilty-looking so the audience has a hard time figuring out who's the killer.

The "whodunnit" is wrapped up in the end with a gathering of everyone while Chan explains his discoveries. That was the only problem with the film: the ending was unsatisfying and bit unrealistic.